A Bengaluru consumer court has ruled against food delivery giant Swiggy, mandating it to pay a total of Rs 5,000 in compensation and litigation expenses to a customer who was left without an ice cream order placed through the app in 2023. As per a report by Bar and Bench, the verdict was reached after Swiggy erroneously marked the order as delivered and failed to issue a refund despite repeated complaints from the customer.
The incident unfolded on January 26, 2023, when the customer ordered a ‘Nutty Death by Chocolate’ ice cream from ‘Cream Stone Ice Cream’ via the Swiggy app, completing a payment of Rs 187 online. However, despite the payment, the app falsely indicated the order as ‘delivered’, leaving the customer empty-handed. Subsequent attempts to resolve the issue with Swiggy’s customer support team proved futile, prompting the aggrieved customer to escalate the matter to the consumer forum.
In its defence during the hearings, Swiggy contended that it acted solely as an intermediary between customers and restaurants, thereby being shielded under the Information Technology Act. Additionally, the app attributed the error to the delivery agent, asserting their inability to verify the delivery status of every order marked ‘delivered’ on the app.
Dismissing Swiggy’s arguments, the bench comprising President Vijaykumar M Pawale, V Anuradha, and Renukadevi Deshpande found the company liable for poor service and unfair business practices. Notably, the bench emphasized Swiggy’s failure to heed a legal notice issued by the customer demanding a refund.
The court asserted that Swiggy couldn’t evade accountability for service quality or goods sold despite its intermediary role, clarifying that the exemption under the Information Technology Act was confined to information dissemination and didn’t extend to the sale of goods and services. Consequently, the consumer court upheld the allegations of service deficiency and unfair trade practices against Swiggy.
Regarding the compensation, the customer had initially sought Rs 10,000 along with an additional Rs 7,500 as litigation expenses, which the court deemed excessive. Instead, the Bangalore Urban II Additional District Consumer Redressal Commission ordered Swiggy to refund the original amount of Rs 187 to the customer, alongside paying Rs 3,000 as compensation and Rs 2,000 towards litigation costs.
